Weekend Roundup email newsletter: April 19 edition

Our Weekend Roundup is released on Sunday mornings during the school year and features an engaging rundown of the news from the previous week in the form of a briefing. It also includes editors’ picks from other sections. Subscribe here to receive emails like this.

After weeks of criticism, Stanford announced on Tuesday that it would pay its regular employees through June 15 and work with contract firms “so that, with Stanford resources and the resources offered by the government, these firms will be supported in maintaining income and benefits” to Stanford’s subcontracted employees through the same period.

The announcement follows activism spearheaded by Stanford Students for Workers’ Rights (SWR) and embraced by students, staff, faculty and alumni. Many of those activists attended Thursday’s virtual Faculty Senate meeting, setting purple Zoom backgrounds that read “#PAYSTANFORDWORKERS” and pressing the University for more transparency on its plans to support its subcontracted workers.

Thursday’s Faculty Senate meeting made headlines for another reason, too: Provost Persis Drell said the University is contemplating starting the next academic year in winter, with quarters continuing through the spring and summer. That scenario is one of a handful that the Fall Planning Task Force is considering, and it expects to make a recommendation to the president and provost next month.

Meanwhile, Governor Gavin Newsom is weighing what it will take to open up California. In a press conference on Tuesday, he said he will consider putting forth a timeline to relax social distancing measures in two weeks if conditions in the state improve, but he cautioned that mass gatherings are unlikely until California develops herd immunity or a vaccine is created.

Sierra Canyon High School’s senior forward Ziaire Williams, who holds the No. 7 spot in the ESPN 100 for the 2020 class, announced his commitment to Stanford in a video posted to his personal social media accounts on Sunday. With the decision to come to Stanford, Williams became the first five-star recruit to commit since Reid Travis ’18 moved to the Farm in 2014. The 6’8″ Williams was heavily sought-after by numerous other programs, including four Pac-12 foes — USC, UCLA, Arizona and Oregon — and North Carolina.

Callisto Campus, a tool for documenting sexual assault at colleges, will be discontinued at the end of June and replaced with a new version of the program. Account data was set to be deleted in the transition, but this decision was reversed after community members voiced concerns.

If you have 10 minutes this weekend, check out one of our editors’ picks:

The Stanford Spoken Word Collective is presenting Friday open mic nights, where students can share in poetry and community, in addition to hearing from a different featured poet each week.

Have an event you’d like featured in next week’s roundup? Let us know at [email protected]

Last week in “Humans of Stanford”

“My first memory — like, ever as a child — was going to the wet market with my mother in Singapore and buying fish and vegetables. I’ve always been really confused by why this memory, out of all memories, was the only one that stuck. She always told me to name the fish and vegetables. She would be like, ‘What’s this fish, and why don’t you know what this fish is called?’ She would make me talk to the sellers, too. She always wanted me to sense my place. ‘Smell the air, touch the vegetables, hear the world around you. How does it make you feel? Adjust and find your place in the environment.’”

That’s all for this roundup. Though The Daily is suspending its print edition, we’ll continue to bring you updates on coronavirus, online spring and more through our email newsletters, social media platforms and our website, stanforddaily.com.

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